Row erupts as tourism ads flop

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A row has broken out between the NSW and federal tourism ministers over how best to market Australia overseas.

With a new $360 million nationally funded series of commercials for Australia flopping badly with American audiences, NSW Minister for Tourism Sandra Nori cheekily offered federal authorities free use of a successful Sydney campaign as a substitute.

But her federal counterpart, Joe Hockey, was far from amused, angrily rejecting the offer, calling it a stunt and criticising NSW's tourism track record.

"NSW has an appalling track record of slashing its budgets and there has been a massive drop-off in out-of-Japan tourists to Sydney."

Tourism Australia is spending millions of dollars developing a new international brand for the country.

But commercials shown to the key US market proved unpopular because they featured little-known Australians such as poet Les Murray and artist Barbara Weir.

One of the advertisements featured a Brett Whiteley painting brought to life.

Now, the advertisements are being re-edited to include more familiar tourism images of Australia.

Ms Nori wrote to Mr Hockey on Friday offering the use of NSW and Sydney ads in the re-edit.

"I was alarmed to learn that Tourism Australia has spent more than $3.5 million on a suite of television commercials, which it now acknowledges will have to be re-edited because they do not clearly feature Australia's icons," she wrote.

"I would like to renew my offer of earlier this year for you to use the NSW Government's highly successful Sydney brand ad and make available footage of Sydney and NSW."

Ms Nori said NSW tourism authorities had offered to share commercial production costs and concepts with federal authorities, and she felt the US ads had baffled Americans.

While it was important to advance other nations' concepts of tourism in Australia, marketers could not ignore traditional favourites such as the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge, she said.

Mr Hockey said Tourism Australia's campaign was successful in several markets and it was not unusual for a campaign to need some tweaking.